The administration of US President Barack Obama is concerned about Russia's growing military involvement in Syria to fight terrorist groups like Daesh (ISIL) operating inside the country, a political expert in Virginia says.
“Russia is taking a more active role with the situation in Syria that seems to have tipped the scales,” said Keith Preston, the chief editor and director of AttacktheSystem.com.
“The United States and Russia have polar opposite interests in Syria and now that Russia is becoming more assertive and taking a more active role in the Middle East, it seems that the United States is becoming a bit concerned about that,” Preston told Press TV on Sunday.
US officials claim that Russia is engaged in a military buildup in Syria. They say Moscow has recently sent hundreds of troops, as well as fighter jets, artillery and other military hardware to an airport in Syria’s western province of Latakia.
The deployment has raised concerns in Washington that Moscow seeks to establish a military outpost in the Arab nation to boost the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
On Saturday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said he saw an opportunity for progress this week in ending the war in Syria, after meeting with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly sessions.
According to Western officials, Kerry is seeking to launch a new initiative for a political solution to the Syrian conflict, in light of the recent refugee crisis that has spilled over to Europe.
However, Preston said Kerry’s comments about finding a political solution in Syria is “nonsense.”
“There’s no nation on earth that’s done any more than the United States to foment unrest and warfare and violence in the Middle East in recent decades,” he noted.
“The United States actually helped to start the current civil war in Syria by backing the rebels that began the insurgency four years ago.”
Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since March 2011. According to reports, the United States and its regional allies - especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey - are supporting the militants operating inside the country.